


To You

by dreamcp



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Feelings Realization, M/M, Protective Ezio, Rescue Missions, leonardo isn't here for that damsel in distress business
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 05:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12474592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamcp/pseuds/dreamcp
Summary: Leonardo is kidnapped under Ezio's nose, and Ezio will stop at nothing to bring him home.





	To You

**Author's Note:**

> Fun story, I started AC2 over two years ago and only last month finally had the motivation to finish it; I'm glad I did though, I'm such a history nerd and this series is perfect for me! Anyway, thanks for reading!

Ezio knows something is wrong the moment he steps over the threshold.

Leonardo’s workshop is often warm and welcoming, a respite from the cold, wet streets of Venezia. It's always in a state of slight disarray with half-finished paintings and inventions scattered around, pieces of paper covering nearly every surface. Leonardo always greets him with a smile and clap on the back, asking about his reason for visiting and whether Ezio has found another codex page. Ezio finds a sort of solace in it, something he can claim of nowhere else in the city. Seeing Leonardo at home amongst his precious works swiftly puts him at ease.

Not now. Now, the lamps are all unlit despite the late hour. Now, the mess is not contained but instead chaotic, deliberate. Papers are crumpled and torn on the floor, furniture is knocked over. Ezio knows the signs of a struggle when he sees them.

He clenches his fist as panic rises in him. No, not Leonardo, _Dio_ not Leonardo. His friend cannot defend himself like Ezio can. If Leonardo has been injured…

“Leonardo!” he calls, taking a few steps towards the room’s center. His eyes rake over every inch of the workshop desperately; he switches to eagle vision when he comes up empty, just in case. Nothing… except for the dim red and blue trails of footsteps on the ground fading before his eyes. Leonardo is not here. He has been taken.

Ezio curses. If Leonardo was taken because of his connection to the Assassins, Ezio will never forgive himself. Leonardo has been on the outskirts of the brotherhood for years, how could Ezio be so foolish as to believe he would be safe from their enemies? 

His hands open and close rapidly, wanting to act but having no plan to put into action. Ezio is lost for a moment.

Fear gives way to anger, and Ezio finds himself struggling to keep from flying into a rage. How _dare_ anyone touch Leonardo. A man so brilliant and inspired beyond any other. _How dare they take him._

Time is not on Ezio’s side, and he finally realizes this. His brain finally kicks into gear and he’s on the rooftops before he even realizes it, sprinting towards the Thieves Guild recklessly. He slips and falls in his haste to scramble down the walls. Ezio lands with a thud and groan, but stumbles to his feet with hardly a thought.

“Ezio!” says Rosa concernedly when he bursts through the door. Her eyes are wide, and Ezio thinks he must look bad if it's got even her worried.

Antonio steps away from his model set and grasps Ezio’s shoulder to steady him. “Amico, what's got you so haggard?”

Ezio's breath is coming in short gasps. He feels lightheaded. Antonio beckons towards Rosa, muttering “Here, here, get him some water.” She quickly pours a cup and presses it into Ezio's hand, and he accepts it gratefully, then downs it in one go.

“Leonardo,” he is finally able to rasp. “He's been taken.”

Antonio’s eyes harden. “How do you know this?”

“His workshop is in a terrible state. There was clearly a fight. But Leonardo is missing.” Words tumble out of Ezio's mouth as fast as he can manage around his pants for air. “You must— ask your men if they've noticed anything, if they've heard anything, we _must_ find him, Antonio.

“We will do everything we can, Ezio,” Antonio says, but Ezio shakes his head.

“Hurry, we must find him soon,” he says. He casts his eyes downwards. “I fear it is my connection to him that put him in harm’s way.”

Ezio feels Antonio’s hands on his shoulders squeezing reassuringly. “Then we’ve no time to waste. I’ll send out my men immediately, we shall have news within the hour.”

It is the longest hour of Ezio's life.

He alternates between pacing the courtyard and fidgeting in a chair inside. The wait is torturous, made worse by the knowledge that he is doing _nothing_ to help. Antonio tells him to stay and wait for one of his men to come back with news, but Ezio feels helpless sitting around as the minutes pass agonizingly slowly. He should be out there as well, searching for any sign of his lost friend.

Ezio stands to leave on multiple occasions, but each time he is stopped by the possibility that one of the thieves will return. Ezio cannot afford to miss what he may have to say. He is torn between action and inaction, and with his mind lacking distraction there is plenty of time to imagine the terrible things these abductors could have done to Leonardo.

_Beaten. Interrogated. Tortured. Killed—_

“Ezio.”

Rosa’s voice is quiet for once. Ezio does not look up, but he does not have to; she crouches to meet his eyes. Ezio’s gaze drifts to the medical supplies in her hands.

“I know you're worried for him, but you should spare a moment for yourself as well,” she says, pointing to a spot on her cheek. “It sounded like something huge took a heavy fall outside just before you turned up, is that where you got that cut? You’re losing your touch, Ezio.”

Ezio's hand drifts up to the same spot on his own face, and he hisses in pain. His fingers come back bloodied.

“I suppose it is. Grazie,” he murmurs, accepting the rag she offers for the blood. He wipes at his cheek as Rosa folds her arms across his knees.

“Leonardo’s strong, Ezio,” she says as she holds his gaze. “He’ll hold out. And you’ll find him, he knows that just as well as I do.”

Ezio frowns. “I'm not the only one looking for him. Others are searching for him,” he spits bitterly, “Not me."

“No,” Rosa concedes. “But you'll be the first one by his side once we find him. Won't you?” She pats his leg before straightening and walking off, leaving Ezio alone with his thoughts.

“Antonio!” a man throws open the door sometime later. Antonio stands, but Ezio is already across the room.

“What news do you have?” he urges. 

“A merchant briefly spotted Leonardo with some guards near the Santa Maria della Visitazione—!”

Ezio pushes the thief aside, ignoring Antonio’s yell to wait. He scrambles up the walls and flies across buildings with renewed purpose. There was an Assassin tomb below the church, and he had found guards there before; there's a good chance Leonardo could be there.

The church's tall silhouette appears in the distance, and Ezio shoves aside his fatigue to press on. He counts the leaps in his head; four more jumps to the entrance, three more, two…

Ezio misjudges the final leap, and just barely grasps at the roof as his body slams into the side of the building. He gasps as the wind is knocked out of him. Ezio struggles to hoist his arms up onto the roof; once he does, he stops to breathe.

As he dangles from the roof, head pressed against the hands gripping tightly at the roof shingles, Rosa’s words come to him once more.

_“You'll find him.”_

_“You'll be the first one by his side.”_

Ezio chuckles darkly. Rosa knows him better than he knows himself, it seems. Are his thoughts really as clear to the rest of the world as they appear to be?

So be it.

He raises his head towards the tomb’s entrance and delves into his eagle vision. Barely a trace remains of anyone, only the dimmest flicker of red catching his eye. And— there, too, is the blue.

Leonardo is important to him.

Ezio takes a deep breath and heaves himself onto the roof, then opens the door of the tomb. He looks around quickly before stepping inside.

It follows, then, that Ezio should care for his safety so.

Ezio knows this tomb well already, and he doesn't hesitate to jump down the long drop into the catacombs. The hay softens his fall, as it always does, and the sound also catches the attention of the two guards standing a little ways away. 

And perhaps this is a learning experience.

They approach warily, but their caution is not enough to save them. Once they get close enough for Ezio to fling himself out of the hay and sink his hidden blades into their necks, they stand zero chance.

Ezio has learned to keep a closer eye on Leonardo, and to be wary of threats towards him.

No amount of men can slow Ezio down, and not for lack of trying. But Ezio has no time for games. He loses track of the number of knives he throws, the number of times he has to wipe his bloodied blade on the fabric of someone’s clothes. His stoic expression conceals the red-hot fury beneath. Some try to flee to warn the men deeper inside; they don't get very far. 

And now his enemies have learned that only death awaits them if they dare to lay a finger on the feared Assassin’s closest friend.

Loud voices reach Ezio as he approaches what he knows is the end of the tunnel, where it opens into a large room with a high ceiling. Leonardo’s is among them, strained but strong, and Ezio feels relief flood through him. But it doesn't last long, as the sounds of a fight break out too. Metal clangs out as it crashes against itself, and Ezio's heart nearly stops.

_“Leonardo!”_

Ezio tears down the hallway and draws his sword as he finally enters the room, prepared for a fight, and— he stumbles to a halt. Chest heaving, eyes wide, he stares down at his friend on the floor.

Leonardo struggles for a moment, trying to shove off a guard’s corpse. The guard is larger and heavier than the artist, especially with the armor he wears. Another guard lies some feet away in a pool of his own blood.

Ezio has questions. Many. But his first priority is Leonardo, so he sheaths his sword and hurries to help free his friend. He takes hold of the guard’s armor and tugs, pulling the corpse away. 

Leonardo shies away from him at first, but the moment he recognizes his rescuer he brightens and exclaims, “Ezio!”

Ezio extends a hand to Leonardo, pulling him to his feet and into a tight hug unthinkingly. Ezio wraps an arm around Leonardo’s shoulders and reassures himself that he's alright. He's alive.

“Ah…” Leonardo sounds confused, and perhaps for good reason. Ezio almost never initiates the contact between them; it's always Leonardo who extends an arm. It's a little out of character for Ezio, but he can't be bothered to care right now, not when he's still trying to calm his adrenaline-filled body and beating heart. He does start thinking of excuses for if Leonardo asks what he's doing, but it turns out to be unnecessary. Ezio feels Leonardo hug him tightly in return, and revels in the small victory.

He holds Leonardo for a few more seconds before letting him go, gesturing at the bodies and asking, “What… happened here?”

Leonardo makes a face. “They were quite… persistent. I tried making a run for it and they didn't like that; but I got ahold of that one’s knife,” he says, pointing at the guard further away, "And stabbed him with it. Then the other one came for me and I got him as well.”

Ezio stares blankly as Leonardo shudders. “Terrible business,” he says, shaking his head. “I don't understand how you can do that so often.”

“You…” Ezio trails off. Much as he would like to have all of his questions answered right now, he sees the cuts and dirt on Leonardo's face and hands, and realizes he needs to get him away from this place.

“Come, amico,” he says, resting his hand on Leonardo's shoulder. “Let's get you home.”

~~~

Ezio sits on the roof of Leonardo's workshop, knees drawn close and head resting on his crossed arms as he watches the empty streets below. Every flicker of movement immediately catches his eye, from the quick scurry of rats to the tree leaves rustling in the night winds. He is, he admits, a little paranoid. 

Once they had made it safely to the workshop, Ezio sent news to Antonio via a nearby group of thieves that Leonardo was safe before retreating upstairs. He can't bear to see Leonardo's wounds while under the guilty suspicion that they're indirectly because of him. Instead, he keeps vigil over Leonardo's home in case any leftover foes have a bone to pick with him.

The sound of the roof hatch opening draws Ezio from his brooding. He turns to see Leonardo emerge and smile sheepishly.

“Forgive me, Ezio, but I seem to be much better at patching up others than myself,” he says, holding up some wrinkled bandages. Ezio swallows. Poor Leonardo doesn't realize the cruelty of his words; yet how could Ezio refuse him?

“Here,” Ezio beckons Leonardo next to him, and he turns so that they are sitting face-to-face along the roof’s edge. He accepts the bandages from Leonardo and takes one of his hands gently. A few lengths of fabric are loosely fastened around it; Leonardo wasn't joking, it seems. Ezio unwraps the bandages carefully to reveal a long but shallow cut from the middle of his palm to just below the wrist.

“I reached out to catch myself when the guard fell on me,” Leonardo explains, seeing Ezio's hard stare at the cut. “I caught it on a rock.”

Ezio inhales deeply. So, this one was not intentional on the part of the guards. The knowledge gives him a bit of relief; this is as bad as Leonardo's injuries seem to get, so the guards must have had the sense not to badly hurt him. 

Ezio bandages the cut with the skill that comes from having to do it many times before. He finishes fixing the bandage in place quite easily, but his hands linger on Leonardo's.

“Did they tell you why they wanted you?” Ezio asks quietly. He cannot meet Leonardo's eyes.

Leonardo does not speak at first. Silence is often a form of admission, and Ezio shakes his head angrily.

“I've put you in danger.”

“No!” Leonardo’s other hand comes to rest on Ezio's quite suddenly. “Well… yes, they came because they suspected I had ties with the Assassin. Being spotted speaking with him on my first day in Venezia was a bit of a giveaway,” he laughs weakly. “But I understood the risks when I chose to make weapons for you, it was my decision to become involved. If I did not want to, I would have turned you away many years ago. Well…”

Ezio looks up at him at last, fixing him with a quizzical expression. Leonardo beams. “You’re a difficult man to deny anything, Ezio.”

This earns a laugh from Ezio. “I've been told that I'm quite stubborn.”

“I am not sure stubborn is even a strong enough word,” Leonardo teases as Ezio goes back to work. There's not much else that needs bandaging, so he merely wipes away the rest of the blood from the smaller scrapes. The air between them is easy, and Ezio feels freer than before. He finally asks the question that has been pestering him since he found Leonardo in the tomb.

“How on _earth_ were you able to kill two armored guards by yourself?”

Despite his earlier disgust, Leonardo looks slightly proud as he answers. “I picked it up from you, actually. I watched whenever you practiced on dummies back in Firenze, as I thought I may need to defend myself some day.”

Ezio's eyebrows raise in surprise. “You learned that only by watching me?”

Leonardo ducks his head. “Sort of. I practiced a few times on the dummies, but I felt incredibly silly doing it, so I stopped. Really, it was sheer luck that I survived today. I heard someone— you, as it turns out— cry my name, and that distracted the last guard long enough to get the advantage.”

“I’m impressed, Leonardo,” says Ezio, and he means it. “You still managed to disarm one man and defend yourself against two. Do not sell yourself short.”

“Grazie, Ezio. It means a lot from you,” Leonardo smiles. Ezio sees his gaze slide from Ezio's eyes to his cheek, and he turns from happy to concerned in an instant. “You’re bleeding, too.”

Ezio reaches up to the same cut from earlier. Leonardo is right. He goes to wipe at it with a bandage, but Leonardo stills his hand. “No, allow me. It's the least I can do for you.”

Ezio would protest, but Leonardo scoots closer and reaches with both hands towards his head. Confusion fills Ezio for a few seconds until he feels a tug on his hood as it is pulled away, exposing his face to the cool night air. Leonardo steadies Ezio with a hand on his jaw and presses gingerly against the scratch with the bandage.

“Leonardo—”

“I know it hurts, hold on.”

Ezio feels his face heating up. That isn’t the _issue._ With Leonardo holding his face so close, staring at him intently like this… it’s doing funny things to his head. Or perhaps more aptly, his heart.

Ezio thinks of the terror he felt when he discovered Leonardo missing, and of the reassurance he felt when he found Leonardo safe in the tomb. He remembers his thoughts from when he made his way into the temple; the devotion and protectiveness he felt. The wrath he wished upon those who took Leonardo.

Ezio has had friends before, many of them. This is not something he has felt for any of them before. 

“There,” Leonardo pulls back and says with a small grin, holding up his bandaged hand for Ezio to see. “Matching battle scars, no?”

Ezio surges forward and kisses Leonardo, closing his eyes as their lips touch. He feels Leonardo gasp against him and jolts backwards immediately, covering his mouth. His face burns. Stupid stupid _stupid—_

“E-Ezio…”

 _“Cazzo,_ I should not have… forgive me Leonardo, I lost myself, please do not…” Ezio fumbles his words, unused to feeling uncertain like this. No, more than uncertain; he is _terrified._ How could he have compromised his friendship with Leonardo like this?! In a panic, Ezio tugs his hood back on and buries his head in his hands.

“Ezio, please…” Leonardo touches Ezio’s arm lightly. Ezio shrinks back.

“Oh, for _Dio’s_ sake…” Ezio’s hands are wrenched from his face, and Leonardo’s lips meet his own for the second time. Ezio is stock-still for three seconds before his mind starts to work again, and he instantly presses back against Leonardo as relief floods through him.

Ezio feels Leonardo’s hands leave his hands; the bandaged one comes up to cup his jaw, and the other rests on his upper arm. The corner of Ezio’s mouth turns up; if this is what Leonardo desires, then Ezio won’t leave him wanting. He tangles his fingers into Leonardo’s hair and tilts his head slightly, running his tongue along Leonardo’s lips. Leonardo’s grip on his arm tightens as his breath stutters.

They pull apart for a few seconds to recapture their breath before diving back in. Then, to Ezio’s surprise, Leonardo uses his own tongue to prise Ezio’s mouth open. Ezio lets Leonardo explore to his liking, unused to not being the one in control but not adverse to it either. Leonardo’s thumb on his jaw rubs little circles into his skin, and Ezio feels a shiver down his neck. 

“Leo…” Ezio murmurs against Leonardo’s lips, a smile forming on his own. He opens his eyes to see Leonardo crowded into his space, eyelids fluttering open. They grin at each other like fools in love— Ezio supposes they are— then Leonardo starts to laugh.

“Were you trying to hide your face with your hood before?” he says through his chuckles. Ezio pouts and shoves his shoulder lightly.

“Don’t mock me!”

“Oh, Ezio, I would never! It was quite sweet actually—”

“I am not _sweet!”_ Ezio grumbles.

Leonardo kisses him again, and Ezio can’t help but smile. “Of course not. And being my knight in shining armor is not romantic, either.”

“You had no need for a knight, Leonardo,” Ezio shakes his head. “But whenever you need me, I shall be there. Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> Leonardo, it isn't a battle scar if you got it falling down silly. Though Ezio hurt himself falling off a roof, so I guess that makes them even ^.^
> 
> Apologies for any Italian mistakes, I studied French haha.


End file.
